The Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies, University of Tasmania

Our Partners

Key Research Goals of Agency

IMAS has three core research programs in Fisheries and Aquaculture, Ecology and Biodiversity, and Oceans and Cryosphere. The ATRC falls within the Ecology & Biodiversity Centre, which is broadly concerned with understanding the structure and functioning of marine ecosystems. Our research has a particular emphasis on temperate systems, though has global outlook and capacity.
– Major lines of research include impacts of climate change and other aspects of global environmental change; determining patterns of biodiversity in marine systems and the underlying drivers; identifying the nature and roles of key species or functional groups from phytoplankton and seaweeds, to top predators on reefs and in pelagic systems; and conservation ecology, including the roles of measures such as marine protected areas.

Much of this work integrates biology, ecology, ocean physics and chemistry, and statistics, mathematics, modelling, management and policy.
Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies

Key Partner Contact: 
Prof Graham Edgar and Assoc Prof Neville Barrett

Senior Research Fellows

  • Biodiversity and ecology of reef systems in Australia and globally
  • Their collaborative work with policy makers worldwide has established sustainable management protocols for marine biodiversity, particularly in the area of advancing Marine Protected Area (MPA) planning and management
 

How long-term collaboration has helped local management

  • The focus of this work has been understanding patterns and processes structuring biodiversity on temperate rocky reefs. Much of this work has involved research on marine protected areas where we contrast changes associated with protection to those happening in adjacent reef systems where human pressures remain.
  • Focuses have been on monitoring southern Australian MPAs and rocky reef environmental health, describing long-term changes in marine ecosystems following protection, including changes in target species, bycatch species, system-wide effects, and comparing these to adjacent coastlines to understand natural variability, effects of fishing, climate change, introduced species, and ecosystem function.
  •  

Australian Temperate Reef Collaboration

We acknowledge the generous support of our partners
Where are we based
University of Tasmania
GET IN TOUCH
AdminEnquiries@utas.edu.au
© Images by Antonia Cooper
envelope-omap-marker